Wednesday, May 26, 1999 Published at 12:58 GMTWorld: EuropeBelgrade puts aid workers on trialA refugee consoles her twin sons after crossing into AlbaniaThe trial has begun in Belgrade of three aid workers charged with spying for Nato.

The three men - two Australians and one Yugoslav - had been working in Yugoslavia for the aid agency, Care Australia, when they were arrested. They face long prison sentences if convicted.

The trial opened as diplomatic efforts continued in Moscow to find a solution to the Kosovo conflict, although there was no sign of a breakthrough.

The Australian Ambassador, Christopher Lamb, was excluded from the court. He said his expulsion was contrary to international law.

One of the men, Steve Pratt, is charged with organising an espionage network. The others, Peter Wallace and Branko Jelen, are accused of supporting him. The charges are strenuously denied by officials of the charity.

The two Australians were arrested as they tried to leave Serbia for neighbouring Croatia.

Steve Pratt pictured with his wife

They were carrying files and computers which the Yugoslav authorities said contained sensitive information which they intended to pass to Nato.

Two correspondents from the Australian network, ABC, were briefly allowed into the court and they report that the men looked physically well.

Diplomatic drive

In Moscow, the US Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott, has again insisted on a full withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo as a pre-condition for movement towards a political solution.

Russia again repeated its demand that Nato halt its bombing campaign to open an opportunity for a political solution.

Mr Talbott was speaking after talks with the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov. He was also due to meet President Yeltsin's envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin and the Finnish president, Martti Ahtisaari.

Mr Ahtisaari, representing the EU, will accompany Mr Chernomyrdin to Belgrade on Thursday if Russia and the West agree a set of joint demands to be backed up by a resolution from the UN Security Council.

Mr Chernomyrdin's previous visits to Belgrade have yielded few concrete results, with negotiations foundering on Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's refusal to allow Nato countries to provide troops for any peacekeeping force in Kosovo.

However the pro-Western president of Montenegro, Serbia's junior partner in the Yugoslav Federation, Milo Djukanovic, said on Tuesday he saw
"positive signals" that Belgrade might soon make concessions.

"An increasing number of people in Serbia are ... becoming
aware of the pointlessness and senselessness of such a war," he said after meeting UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.

Extra force puts pressure on Belgrade

Nato is continuing to work on its plans to almost double the number of its troops on Yugoslavia's borders. Its reinforcement is expected to bring to 50,000 the number of its troops in the area.